In an effort to further reduce the fuel consumption and the harmful emissions of modern internal combustion engines, internal combustion engines with variable valve trains for variable control of the inlet valves and/or the exhaust valves are increasingly coming into use. In this regard internal combustion engines with variable valve lift control have proved particularly efficient, because they can be operated almost unthrottled in the lower and medium load range (throttle valve fully open). The load control only takes place thereby over the lift of the inlet valves. In said unthrottled operating range the charge exchange losses are low, resulting in reduced consumption. However, manufacturing tolerances in the valve train and in the valves cause errors in cylinder filling. Especially in the lower load range and when idling, where the lift of the inlet valves in the unthrottled mode is very small, even small errors in cylinder filling can be evident as noticeable torque differences, which restricts ride comfort. Said torque differences, which can occur not only between different internal combustion engines but also between the cylinders of the same internal combustion engine, lead in the worst case to noticeable uneven running in the lower load range or when idling and hence to a restriction of the ride comfort.